Today's News

West Brunswick held off a fourth-quarter rally by South Brunswick to beat the Cougars 35-31 in a nonconference girls basketball game Friday.

West led 32-24 with 1:29 left, but South rallied on a basket by Brittany Spivey with 46.2 seconds left, a free throw by Christina Deveney with 42.5 seconds left and another free throw by Shatiqua Smith with 41.5 seconds left. Those scores cut the West lead to 32-28.

West Brunswick High School had three winners in a 58-18 loss to Laney in the first conference dual of the season Dec. 3.

Two of the Trojans’ victories were by pin. Ted King won his heavyweight match in 22 seconds.

Deven Raune won his 152-pound match by pin in 2:15.

West’s other victory was by Joey Moreno at 171. In a match in which both wrestlers were on their feet for most of the time and constantly warned about stalling, Moreno won by disqualification with the score tied 5-5 in the third period.

Early next year, Coastal Horizons Center will open its new, 7,000-plus square-foot facility on U.S. 17 South in Shallotte behind Jones Ford to provide mental health, substance abuse and rape crisis services in Brunswick County.

Coastal Horizons Center is a private nonprofit agency headquartered in Wilmington and has been in operation for more than 38 years. In 2007, the agency broke ground on its new office, with help from a donation from the Odell and Virginia Williamson family.

Girls Incorporated, an organization that inspires girls to be strong, smart and bold, aims to help reduce and eliminate adolescent pregnancies through interactive programs that combine comprehensive sex education with activities that help teach assertiveness and values.

To help continue its mission, Girls Incorporated is seeking a renewal to continue a grant administered by Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiatives (TPPI).

If you owned a television at all in 1988 you probably remember the scene that played out on countless “entertainment” television shows, and the follow-up images and stories that later came in newspapers and magazines.

That was the year media tycoon Oprah Winfrey rolled a wagon of fat onto the set of her show representing the 67 pounds she reportedly lost. Since then the daytime talk show host has become a spokesperson for many—touting eating healthier and exercising.

Since we’re knocking on 2009’s door, this is the time of the year when, among everything else, we’re inundated with the “best-ofs” and the “year-in-reviews” and all other shows, programs, stories and broadcasts remembering all things great in 2008.

I watched one such show last week, and I think that’ll be enough to last me for at least another year.

I found it mind-numbingly predictable, and I’m willing to bet all the rest will be equally unsurprising.